Chanel Frenzy Dupe

Chanel 559/Frenzy

Chanel's latest nail polishes include 559/Frenzy, described as a "lilac grey" is a lilac-tinged creamy beige-y grey-y putty taupe-y nude-y colour.  Like all Chanel nail polishes, it's expensive.  It's got subtle undertones.  If you're to believe The Blogosphere As Biased Towards Chanel, it's trend-setting*.  It doesn't work on, or for, everyone, but I love it.  It's beautiful.

And frankly, it's irritating.

MAC Styleseeker Powder Blushes

MAC Styleseeker Powder Blushes in Worldly Wealth, Hidden Treasure

The MAC Styleseeker collection features three powder blushes, called Worldly Wealth, Hidden Treasure and Supercontinental ("Bright Cute Coral").  Of the three, only the former two interested me.

Barry M Chameleon Colour Changing Nail Effects

A bit childish perhaps, a bit of a gimmick, but fun nail art when you're in a hurry... Barry M do great nail polishes in great colours, and they usually are one of the first out with the new trends (like magnetic polish, or crackle glaze or what have you) and they're cheap-as-chips and they're good quality and they're readily available...

The shades available

There are three polishes available, all under a fiver, from Boots or the Barry M site; I purchased the only one I was particularly interested in, the Pink one.

330 Pink

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

This is a perfect "Goldilocks" foundation.  It will work if your skin is not too oily, not too dry, but just right...

Let me caveat this review by saying I quite like this foundation.  When I first bought it, I thought it was a miracle.  After some use, I can see it has merit, but it's not the bee-all-and-end-all I originally thought. For me, this is more of a makeup artist's foundation than a Joe Soap Consumer's foundation.  I'll explain why after the jump.

Dupe alert: Paperself Lashes

After yesterday's mammoth post, today's post, bringing DupeWeekTM to an end ;-) is short and sweet..

Essence Cherry Blossom Girl paper lashes

How utterly gorgeous are these?  Essence's latest collection, called Cherry Blossom Girl, features a bunch of soft reds and corals and these gorgeous eyelashes.

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre: the Search for Dupes

More dupes!  The turn of the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre shadows...

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre shadows (permanent)

I love the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre formulation.  It's a bouncy, mousse-y, soft, not-quite-cream, not-quite-gel hybrid formulation that feels lovely and applies beautifully.  I prefer to use fingers, but flat brushes also work well for applying these (see this post for more information on lay-down eye brushes).

The shades above and here are those in the permanent line - until recently there were six, but there have been two new additions since, making up the eight shown above and after the jump...

(Accidental) Dupe Alert: Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick

Armani Sheer Lipstick #8

I have and love this lipstick.  It's unusual... really sheer, but pigmented.

The one thing I don't love about it is the weird plastic-y smell/taste from it.  But that fades after a few minutes, so I can ignore it.  I have it in #8 which is a blue-based fuscia pink.  Scary-looking in the tube (if you are easily scared of very bright colours!) but a lot more sheer on the lips - it's positively luminous and juicy, and as I've mentioned, quite pigmented for something so sheer.  In general, I tend to favour either extreme;  ultra-flat-ultra-matte reds and pinks, or glossy and sparkly lipglosses in golden-biased nudes and lilacs, but this one is a little different for the odd occasion I feel like being different.

On to the dupe...

e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliner

I'd use a smaller image if I could.
Dreadful stuff.

Oh dear god.

A whole pile of a stinking heap of Please Don't Bother.

Having heard great things in the blogosphere about e.l.f, I spent the grand sum of €25 lately on a large stash of Things To Try Out.

Dupe Alert: MAC Fashion Fix!

This week I've decided to try to write a series of posts on both budget makeup and dupes of recently released products.  Today is the turn of a MAC eyeshadow...

MAC Fashion Fix Pro Longwear Eyeshadow

One of MAC's latest collections (Office Hours) has introduced a bunch of new Pro Longwear formula eyeshadows, one of which is called Fashion Fix, and is a cool-toned greyed brown.  It's an interesting enough shade and the only one of the collection I was particularly interested in.  The shades are all to be part of the permanent line and not LE (for a bloody change - I don't think I'm the only person on the planet getting bored of the LE nature of MAC collections).

Yves Saint Laurent Forever Youth Liberator Serum

Yves Saint Laurent
Forever Youth Liberator Serum

... I will be avoiding this one again.

MAC Face & Body Foundation

MAC Face & Body Foundation:
A huge 120ml bottle!

MAC Face & Body is that standard, simple, unfussy, workhorse foundation that I love and have been using and quietly recommending to anyone who will listen for years now.  It's not an exciting foundation that I rave about.  But it's the foundation that I recommend for most brides.  It's the foundation I'll usually use for photography work.  It's the foundation that most makeup artists (that I know) use on a reasonably regular basis.  It's the foundation that I recommend for most skin types.  It's the single most used (and useful) piece of my kit.  It provides consistently good results, every time, unfailingly.

MAC have actually just released a collection actually called "Face & Body" which features this foundation, among other products...  More on that after the jump.

Shiseido Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream

Shiseido Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream.
Breathe In... add some more words to the name, why doncha.

While purchasing a bunch of Shiseido products in Arnotts lately, I was busily engaging the lovely SA and finding out as much about the brand as I could (I'm sure I bore SA's rigid. I use them and abuse them for product information...).  Said lovely SA was more than kind to give me a handful of samples of the Shiseido Bio-performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream for my own personal use, promising me that after use, I would be back to purchase, so I've been using these samples for the last week or so, with different serums (day and night) to see what I thought.

Dublin Fashion Festival 2012

It's upon us again, and this year I'm working with LA Makeup Academy to do the catwalk looks for the models.

It means early starts and late ends; three days of being on my feet from about 7 (that's in the am) to about 11 (that one would be pm).  It will mean, in essence, coming home, scrabbling around to clean lots of brushes quite late at night, to get them all ready for the following day.  It will categorically mean comfy shoes and a cardigan (there will be a lot of outdoor events, and supposed Irish-Indian Summer aside, it just won't be that warm).  But I can't wait!


There is quite a full programme and all events are available here, at this link.

There are essentially two main looks that we've agreed to recreate for the various fashion shows.  The inspiration and breakdowns for these looks are coming right up...

Bare Minerals Review

Bare Minerals Get Started (8-piece) kit

Following on from a request for advice from a friend of mine, while at the same time in the search for a decent foundation for a client's Extremely Oily Skin of late, I thought I'd take myself into a Bare Minerals concession to have a chat with the SAs there and get the skinny.  I left with a face full face of Bare Minerals (they call their makeovers "Make Unders"), a bag complete with this Starter Kit (above) and lots of very generous-sized (and free) samples, and a head full of information!

I have wandered into the realms of mineral makeup before.  I know what it does.  I know it can really do it beautifully.  But as it never really suited my dry-ish skin, I didn't bother much with it.  But on the request of a friend, I thought I'd look further into the Bare Minerals starter kit...

Warning!  Images-heavy post ahead!

Ketosis & how it works

This post is in response to some questions I've been asked down through the years about Ketogenic dieting and "Ketosis".  It's a wordy post, and won't be of huge interest to everyone, but perhaps it might prove interesting to some!

Now, I am not one of those "eat to live" people; I wish that I were, but I just love eating.  So from time to time I have Dabbled with Diets.  I have ridden that Weight Watchers pony.  I had a brief period of madness when I used Celebrity Slim Shakes (gross disgusting overly-sweet absolute muck that does nothing for you).  I subscribed to Dr Eades Protein Power Plan (highly recommended).  I have Done Detox.  The Zone and I were buddies for a while, and I even looked into Eating For Your Blood Type .  I followed whatsisname's JuiceMaster programme.  I subscribed to yucky Chinese herbs (that you boil on Sunday, allow to cool, and drink all week - gag).  All during this time I have been reading, researching, absorbing, talking to nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, you name it, and I have eventually come to my own brand of dieting/healthy eating/whatever you want to call it.

Essentially, it follows the high-protein-low-carb "Paleo" approach favoured by Dr Eades, Atkins, "Pig To Twig" and a bunch of other programmes.

It works.  But it needs discipline.  But frankly, any "diet" or "healthy eating plan" will only succeed with preparation (remember the 7 Ps*) and discipline, determination, self-belief, actualisation, a long-term attitude and lot of other stuff that seems insurmountable at the start of any programme, and becomes easier as you go along.

* Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Sadly Necessary Disclaimer

Before advancing, I should caveat this with a disclaimer.  This information is all factually true and based on my own experience.  I stand behind my understanding of it all but I am by no means an expert.  This post is intended as information, not advice.  Any dietary or eating plan should not be undertaken lightly, and with consideration of your own weight, health and possibly in consultation with your own doctor or nutritionist.

Clarins Eye Revive Beauty Flash

Clarins Eye Revive Beauty Flash: meh

This is... well...

What can I say about it.  It's about the €32ish price mark (aka: not cheap).  It's a cream-gel textured balm thingie you use under your eye.  According to the Clarins' SA, "not every day";  it's not meant to be used as your daily under eye cream/gel/lotion/hybrid jobbie, it is supposed to be used "only" on those occasions you need a little extra TLC.